As unemployment rates across the country continue to steadily decrease for White, Hispanic, and Asian workers, Black unemployment continues to rise. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, since the pandemic started Black unemployment rates have risen to 9.9%, while the overall jobless rate has fallen to 6.2%
Before the COVID-19 lockdowns, unemployment for all racial and ethnic groups dropped to a 50-year low under the Trump administration, with the overall jobless rate sitting at 3.5%. However, after the pandemic hit many businesses were forced to shut down, jumping the unemployment rate to over 14% for all groups.
Former President Trump began focusing on the economy and created hundreds of thousands of jobs every month, though August 2020 showed the highest increase in job opportunities with 1.5 million jobs created in that month alone.
Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst at Bankrate said, “In the coming weeks and months, as weather improves across the country, businesses welcome back more customers, and more vaccinations are administered, we should see a more substantial pick-up in hiring.”
